The invention relates to an assembly of a plant information label and a plant stake for holding the plant information label.
Such an assembly of a plant stake and information label is inserted into the ground at the edge of the pot of a plant in order to provide the consumer with information about the plant. In actual practice many embodiments of such assemblies of information label and plant stake are known. For instance, a plant stake is known having a substantial rectangular cross-section, in which a little button is arranged on the widest side. The accompanying information label has a circular recess which snaps over the little button. A drawback of said assembly is amongst others that it is difficult to read the back of the information label unless the information label is bent or taken from the plant stake or the plant stake including the plant information label is taken out of the ground. When bending the plant stake will moreover move very much, as a result of which the roots of the plant may be damaged. Additionally the label is difficult to place directly. Moreover, in order to be abe to read the information label, the plant stake has to be inserted transverse to the radius of the pot. The drawback of all this is that this again may also quickly lead to damage of the roots because the roots of the plant generally run radially. Moreover the information label sits vertical to the pot, as a result of which it is difficult if not impossible to read the information label from above.
Another embodiment of the known assembly, described above, is an embodiment in which the little button is arranged at the top of the plant stake. A drawback of this is that the label is able to rotate, as a result of which it can no longer be read. Moreover the label often projects far beyond the pot.
A third known embodiment is an assembly in which the plant stick has a circular cross-section, having a transverse plane as a stop when inserting the plant stake into the ground. At its top the plant stake is provided with a curl over which the label can be pulled. A drawback of this structure is that the label is rather difficult to arrange. Moreover the label is able to swing. Additionally, the plant stake is not easy to produce compared to the other plant stakes.
Another known possibility to provide a plant with an information label is by means of an information label that can be inserted into the ground without a plant stake. Such an information label has the drawback of being very broad as a result of which the roots can easily get damaged, and the information being difficult to read from above. The back of such an information label moreover is very hard to read.
Swiss patent specification 651,411 regards an assembly of a pin to be inserted into the ground and card to be snapped onto the pin. The card then remains standing straight up.
U.S. Pat. No. 1,863,608 regards an assembly of a pin and an information label having the text in longitudinal direction of the label. The label is difficult to arrange onto the pin, cannot be removed and moreover, the assembly can rotate into a position in which the label may be difficult to read.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,537,768 regards a plant stake for holding an information label in a clamping manner.
The object of the invention is to provide a simple assembly of plant stake and plant information label, which does not have the drawbacks mentioned or has them to a lesser extent.
A further object of the invention is to provide a simple assembly of a plant stake which can be manufactured easily and cheaply and an information label which can easily be arranged on it.
An additional object of the invention is to provide an assembly which unites several advantageous properties. The roots, for instance, should be damaged as little as possible when inserting and the plant stake should hold the information label such that it is well-legible and in a rather fixed position and is well-legible to the consumer. Moreover the plant label preferably should not easily get detached from the plant stake.
Additionally the invention has the object of holding the information label such that the back can easily be read, the card remains fixed to a certain extent in a wanted position and the information label can be arranged on the plant stake in a rather simple way.
At least a part of said drawbacks are overcome and a part of the goals are achieved by an assembly of a plant information label provided with an uncircular hole having a largest diameter d, and a plant stake for holding the plant information label, in which the plant stake is provided with abutment surfaces situated on either side, in which at least one abutment surface is formed in a notch, which notch also offers room for rotation for the plant information label.
At least a part of the drawbacks are overcome this way and a part of the goals is achieved. Because of the notch which offers room for rotation to the plant information label it is easy to read the back of the plant information label without having to remove the plant stake out of the pot of a plant or to move the stake in the pot. Additionally such a plant stake is easy to produce and the plant information label can hardly rotate around the plant stake. The room for rotation offers the possibility to revolve the plant information label, about an axis of rotation perpendicular to the longitudinal axis of the plant stick and substantially in the plane of the plant information label, or to tilt, so that the back of the plant information label becomes visible.
Preferably the abutment surface in the notch is situated above the abutment surface on the other side of the plant stake. As a result the information label will hang in an inclined position in the view direction of the consumer. In order to prevent that the information label becomes detached from the plant stake when reading the information at the back of the information label, the plant stake is provided with at least one stop surface on either side for limiting the rotation of the plant information label. In order to rotate the information label almost completely vertically, two stop surfaces are substantially vertically situated above each other. In order to arrange the information label on the plant stake without too much trouble, the ratio between the dimensions of the hole and the length and width of the plant stake is such that the plant information label can be arranged on the stake. Preferably the plant stake comprises a passage portion of which the largest diameter is smaller than the largest diameter of the hole of the plant information label, as a result of which arranging it is facilitated even more, to such an extent even that arranging without deforming the plant information label can become possible. The passage portion of the plant stake then is the portion of the plant stake that the information label has to pass in order to be arranged on the plant stake.
In order to further prevent that the information label can get detached from the plant stake when reading the back of the information label, the downward opening angle between the top of the notch and the longitudinal axis of the plant stake is 90 degrees at a maximum.
For a stable positioning of the information label it is desirable that the upper abutment surface has a vertical component, and in order to prevent that the information label will slip down from the plant stake for instance because of draught from below, the lower abutment surface preferably has a horizontal component. Preferably the plant stake is provided with a shoulder either from or below the upper abutment surface, more preferably the horizontal component of the lower abutment surface forms a shoulder, or it merges into a shoulder.
Additionally, in order to further prevent that the information label can get detached from the top of the plant stake, it is preferred that the shortest distance be-tween the top of the notch and the top of the upper stop surface is longer than the largest diameter of the hole of the plant information label.
In order to prevent rotation of the information label from revolving around the plant stake, the hole in the information is uncircular. Preferably said hole is either substantially slot-shaped or rectangular.
In order to fixate the plant information label well in a wanted position it is desirable that the plant stake has a substantially flat rectangular cross-section. In order to obtain a plant stake that is simple to manufacture, for instance by means of extrusion and subsequent punching out, it is preferred that the plant stake either has no, or substantially no, parts which protrude beyond the contours of the plant stake. Contours here mean the continuation of the otherwise strip-shaped plant stake.
In order to be able to read the information at the back of the information label well, it is preferred that the information on the label runs from top to bottom on the one side and from bottom to top on the other side, that means on the front, the side facing a consumer, preferably from the hole in the information label downwards, and at the back from the lower side of the information label towards the hole.
Specifically, the plant stake offers optimal room for rotation to the information label when the width of the notch, which offers room for rotation, is adjusted to the distance from the top of the information label to the hole therein, particularly when the width of the notch, which offers room for rotation, is larger than the distance from the top of the information label to the hole therein.
In order to prevent an all to quick detachment of the information label it is preferred that the width of the notch which offers room for rotation at a certain depth in the notch, preferably near the outer edge of the plant stake, is smaller than the distance from the top of the information label to the hole therein.
In order to be able to more easily detach the information label from the plant stake, the distance from the bottom of the upper stop surface to the top of the notch, can be smaller than the largest width of the hole of the information label. Additionally, to facilitate lifting, that means rotating or tilting, the information label in order to remove it, or reading the back, the side of the plant stake has a substantially round course from the upper stop surface to below.
In order to prevent the spontaneous detachment of the information label even further, the width of the plant stake above the notch is larger than the largest width of the hole in the information label at at least one location.
A second aspect of the invention relates to the plant stake for holding an information label, in which the plant stake has a maximum thickness D and a maximum width B and is provided with means for holding an information label, in which the plant stake is provided with at least two notches on one side, the upper and lower notch, and on the opposing side with at least one notch, the middle notch, in which the level of the deepest point of the middle notch is between the deepest point of the upper notch and the deepest point of the lower notch, and in which the width measured from the deepest point of the upper notch to the deepest point of the middle notch I1, the width measured from the deepest point of the middle notch and the deepest point of the lower notch, I2, and the generating lines from the deepest point of the middle notch from I1 to I2 are shorter than B and the generating line from the top side of the upper notch to the top and towards the middle notch, I3, is smaller than or equal to B.
Preferably the second aspect of the invention relates to a plant stake having an uncircular cross-section.
In order to easily and unimpededly move an information label possibly to be placed on the plant stake, the plant stake has a smooth course between the upper and the middle notch. For the same reason the part of the plant stake between the upper notch and the middle notch preferably is flattened.
In order to facilitate the arrangement of a possible information label, the top of the plant stake is rounded off in the plane of the width.
In order to hold the plant information label well, it is preferred that the upper notch and the lower notch are substantially wedge-shaped, and preferably also the middle notch is substantially wedge-shaped.
The plant stake according to the second aspect of the invention can preferably be used in cooperation with a plant information label provided with a hole, preferably a rectangular hole having a largest diameter smaller than B. As a result the plant information label does not slip down from the plant stake. For a good presentation it is moreover preferred that the hole is situated near the top.
In order to be able to read the plant information label on both the front and back it is preferred that on one side of the information label information has been printed from the hole downwards, and on the other side of the information label information has been printed running from the bottom of the label towards the hole. That means that the information at the front runs to the edge where the information label is taken hold of to tilt the information label, and at the back from the location where the information label is taken hold of, to the location where the information label is attached to the plant stake.
A plant stake according to the invention can be made from various possible materials such as wood, a synthetic material or metal. For financial reasons such a plant stake is however preferably made from a synthetic material, possibly recycled or mixed with recycled synthetic material and provided with fillers. All this to render the price as attractive as possible.
A plant stake according to the invention preferably is provided with a pointed tip at the bottom as a result of which it can easily be inserted into the ground.
The invention moreover relates to a plant stake for holding a plant information label, which plant stake at the top is provided with a thickening, with a neck below the thickening and with a shoulder below the neck, in which the thickening blocks removal of the plant information label when it is situated in an inclined presentation position or in an upwardly turned position to read the back, or in positions to get from the inclined presentation position into the upwardly turned position, but comprising a passage portion as a result of which the plant information label can be removed from the plant stake, the neck together with the shoulder offering room for tilting the plant information label to read the back without substantially bending the plant information label, and which neck because of an uncircular cross-section corresponding to a hole in the plant information label prevents rotation of the plant information label in the plane of the plant information label and holds the plant information label in an inclined direction to a viewer, and the shoulder preventing the plant information label from sliding down.
By defining a space in order to be able to tilt the plant information label without substantially bending the plant information label, no torque is exerted on the stake when turning it upwards to be able to read the back.
The thickening at the top of the plant information label comprises a passage portion. When the plant information label is turned upwards from the presentation position, that means the position in which the plant information label is fixed to the plant stake in an inclined manner so that the information label is well-legible to the consumer, into a upwardly turned position or turned position, in which the back can be read without substantial bending of the information label, the information label cannot easily get detached from the plant stake. While turning upwards from the presentation position into the turned position a tilting track is followed. Said tilting track is followed freely, guided along the neck.
On the other side a passage portion is indeed defined along which the information label has to be moved in order to detach the information label from the plant stake. Said passage portion preferably renders the information label only detachable when a person acts with the intention to detach the information label. The information label preferably cannot be detached by simple swinging, tilting or holding the plant stake with information label upside-down.
Preferably the plant stake is strip-shaped, additionally the thickening preferably is located within the planes that limit the strip-shaped portion of the plant stake, that means that it has no protruding parts outside/beyond the strip-shaped continuation of the plant stake. As a result the plant stake is easy to produce.
Preferably the cross-section of the neck is adjusted such to the hole in the information label that it can be moved along the tilting track without substantial deformation and can be arranged on the plant stake without substantial deformation.
The invention additionally relates to a plant stake for holding a plant information label, in which the plant stake is provided with a neck, in which the neck has an uncircular cross-section and the plant information label is provided with a corresponding uncircular hole, and in which the neck is formed for guiding the plant information label through the plant stake during tilting the plant information label.
The invention will be further elucidated in the figures which show a preferred embodiment of a plant stake, a plant information label and assembly for it according to the invention. It goes without saying that the invention is not limited to said figures.